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If you’re confused about how much protein you need per day, you’re not alone. There’s not a cut-and-dried answer. Everyone has a different “need” depending on gender, weight, activity level and goals.

I’ve been doing a lot of research to try to answer this question for myself. There is a lot of information out there. Here is the lowdown on what I found.

What is the RDA for protein:

The purpose of the RDA guidelines is to inform you how much of a specific nutrient your body needs on a daily basis to function properly. So basically, depending on your weight and activity level, the RDA for protein can be viewed as the minimum requirement to keep you healthy.

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein for men is 56 grams per day and 46 grams per day for women.

Chances are you may need more. But how much more and why?

What is Protein?

Protein is one of the basic building blocks of the human body, making up roughly 20 percent of your total body weight. Muscle, hair, skin, and connective tissue are mainly made up of protein. Also, protein plays a major role in all of the cells and most of the fluids in your body. Although your body is good at “recycling” protein, you use it up constantly, so it is important to continually replace it.

Protein is made up of smaller units called amino acids. Your body can produce some of these amino acids, but others must be consumed through the diet. Animal products (meat, eggs, dairy) and many plant foods are good sources.

Protein and Weight Loss

When you want to gain muscle and lose fat, eating the right amount of protein is key. Protein and the amino acids that make it up are required for two main reasons.

1) To construct muscle – they are the building blocks

2) They act as a switch to ‘signal’ that it’s time to start up the “muscle building machinery”.

Leucine is probably the most important amino acid that stimulates this “switch” and is highly present in protein rich food.

Because protein is required to build muscle AND to signal the body to start this process, it’s important to spread out protein consumption evenly throughout the day.

How Much Do You Need?

“When it comes to building muscle and losing fat, research consistently shows that doubling the RDA spaced out throughout the day is the path you want to take to get the best results the fastest”. (BJ Gaddour, “Men’s Health, Your Body is Your Barbell”). This seems like a good rule of thumb in general. Let’s see what other people say.

Using this formula, a 150 lb. man would require a minimum of 55 grams of protein per day. This falls right in with the RDA. And if you’re very active and exercise frequently, professionals agree you can nearly double this requirement. Be advised, though, if you’re shooting for a gram of protein per pound of body weight, or more, you’re probably overdoing it. The extra protein will not necessarily benefit you. Also, that’s a lot for the body to process and the extra calories will most likely end up as fat.

To look at it another way, it is recommended that 10-35% of your daily calories come from protein. This is a rather large range and where you fall in it also depends on your weight and activity level. For a diet of 1800 calories per day, this means anywhere from a minimum of 45 grams of protein to over 150 grams of protein per day. That 35% is a pretty high number and may be overdoing it for a lot of people. In my diet, I lean towards around 20% protein.

So you see, there are various rules of thumb to figure out the ideal protein for you.

Tracking the Protein Grams you Eat

Many foods contain protein, but at the end of the day, how do you know how much you’ve consumed?

Protein and Exercise Recovery

After a workout your body switches immediately from performance mode to recovery mode. It’s important to rebuild broken down muscle so you can come back stronger in your next training session. It is a great idea to refuel with protein right after your workout. Try a protein shake. Whey is a rapidly digested protein source loaded with leucine that will help maximize muscle recovery and growth.

Nutrient Timing: Exercise Recovery and Carbs

I found an extra helpful tidbit in my research about muscle recovery and carbs.

Nutrient timing is the concept that certain foods benefit your body more at specific times of the day than at others. After exercise, your muscles want to restock their supply of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. This is the time that your muscles are primed to take in the carbs you eat. In fact, after exercise is one of the few times carbs are preferentially transported to your muscles and away from your fat cells.

It’s a great idea to plan your starchiest meal of the day within 2 hours of your training. This could be breakfast, lunch or dinner depending on when you workout.

Your other meals of the day should consist of protein and nutrient dense carbs and vegetables.

A Few Last Words…

I hope this helps answer some questions you have about protein or got you thinking more about nutrition. As a trainer I am all about the workout but honestly, 75 – 80% of the weight loss equation concerns what you put in your mouth.

I’m back! I took an unplanned hiatus and really missed this place! How are you all doing?

I’ve been up to a lot of things since I wrote last. In particular, I’ve taken quite an interest in Pinterest. If you haven’t checked out the Pinterest website, you really should visit! I love it because you can search for anything and find hundreds of unique ideas.

I’ve been using Pinterest lately to help me eat better. How many times have you been starving and despite your intentions to eat well, you grab the easiest thing because you’re just so hungry. So hungry that you can’t eat fast enough! I’ve been guilty of this! Part of losing weight and keeping healthy is planning and preparation. This can actually be fun when you have new ideas to try!

I found this idea on Pinterest and tweaked it a bit to fit my liking. I call these Egg Bites. The original recipe called for just egg whites but I added in whole eggs because I really believe in the power of the yolk. The entire recipe calls for 6 whole eggs and 3/4 cup egg whites, and each bite contains just over 20 calories. These make great pre or post workout snacks. My family also loves them for breakfast!

They are super easy to make!

Here’s what you need:

A mini muffin tin

Olive Oil or cooking spray to prep the pan

Chopped veggies of your choice

6 whole eggs

3/4 cup egg whites

First, prep the muffin tin with olive oil using a paper towel or use cooking spray such as Pam. Line the bottom of the tin with your veggies. Here I used fresh spinach leaves and fresh pico de gallo. The options are unlimited! Go crazy!

Beat the whole eggs, combine with the egg whites and pour into the muffin tin over the veggies.

Now bake at 350 for roughly 17 – 18 minutes.

Uncooked

Cooked after 17 minutes

Let cool a few minutes and pop them out of the tin.

Store them in an air tight container in the frig. They will keep for about 4 days!

Make it a goal to prep healthy food in advance so you’re not caught binging on whatever is easy when those hunger pangs hit.

Here are some fun topics for conversation at your next cocktail party! Well, maybe not, but read on and you’re sure to learn a thing or two!

America’s most commonly consumed grain product is white bread

America’s favorite meat product is beef

America’s most commonly eaten vegetable is the potato in the form of french fries

A 12 ounce soft drink contains 10-12 teaspoons of sugar

Americans, on average, consume 103 pounds of sugar per year

Most brown sugar is really white sugar with molasses added for color and flavor

Prolonged Vitamin A deficiency can cause permanent blindness

Rice is the only starch that does not cause gas

The brain is 60% fat

Collagen is the most abundant protein in people and animals and gives skin and bones their elastic strength

You have almost 10,000 taste buds in your mouth. In general, females have more taste buds than males

When at work or play, muscles prefer to use glucose or glycogen for fuel. This is stored carbohydrate

Your brain’s preferred fuel is glycogen (stored carbs) too!

When at rest, muscles prefer to use fat for fuel

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. Butter is a great example

Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, like oils

Dietary guidelines suggest you consume less than 10% of calories from saturated fatty acids per day. When you have a choice, choose the liquid fat over the solid fat for heart health

Fiber is an important part of your diet but your body can digest very little of it

Brain freeze, (that sharp pain in the mid-frontal part of the brain when you take a big bite of ice-cream) is caused when cold substances touch the back part of the palate, causing blood vessels to constrict (tighten). About 1/3 of the population experiences this.

Facts about the Stomach

Alcohol is absorbed directly from the stomach, so if you’re going to indulge at that cocktail party, be sure to eat something first. If your stomach is full, alcohol will be absorbed more slowly

The stomach empties in 1-4 hours depending on the amount and types of food eaten

Carbohydrates speed through the stomach in the shortest time, followed by protein and then fat. Therefore, a high fat meal will sit in your stomach longer

Digestion is started, but not completed in the stomach. The stomach digests only 30-40% of carbs, 10-20% of protein and less than 10% of fat

Facts about the Small and Large Intestine

Digestion of fat, protein and most carbohydrate is completed in the small intestine

The small intestine packs a gigantic surface area into a small space. The length of the small intestine is about 10 feet long, but because of its many wrinkled folds and fingerlike projections, its absorptive surface area is more than 300 square yards, or the area of a tennis court!

Substances take 3-10 hours to journey through the small intestine

The large intestine is 5 feet long

Substances travel through the large intestine at a much slower rate:18 – 24 hours

Take Care of your Liver!

The liver is a detoxification center and filters toxic substances from the blood

Does looking at this perfect piece of dark chocolate make your mouth water? Can you imagine the sweet smell and intense flavor as it melts over your tongue? The flavor then peaks as it glides down your throat….mmm…heaven!

Yes, this IS a fitness and nutrition blog, but I want to share a little food experiment, and what better subject to use than chocolate? (In moderation, of course!).

Food is fuel, but it’s also something we should enjoy. No matter what your goals are, you’re not likely to consume something if it doesn’t appeal to you in some way. Our senses play a huge role in deciding if we like something or not.

We all have a chemical sensing system. Sensory cells are located in the nose, mouth and throat and send messages through nerves to the brain. It’s the brain that identifies smell and taste. Smell and taste together is what produces flavor.

Enough Jibber Jabber? I agree!

So, Try this Experiment! (And it works extremely well with chocolate!):

Hold your nose and pop a piece of chocolate in your mouth. Chew. You most likely will have trouble tasting it. You may sense sweet or bitter, but that’s about it. You may not sense or taste anything at all. Now, let go of your nose and what happens? You immediately taste and smell the chocolate.

For the sake of argument, when the flavor is in full force in your mouth, hold your nose again. What happens? Can you still taste it? Most likely, No. Pretty Cool!

The flavor of chocolate is sensed largely by the smell.

This is also true with other food or substances with strong odors, including coffee.

I find it extremely fascinating that the human mouth has about 10,000 taste buds, but if you can’t smell it, you can’t taste it!

What can you take away from this?

This is just a fun experiment! I am continually amazed at the workings of the human body and wanted to share what I learned.

However, if you want to apply these findings to your life, I propose that when you have a bad cold and stuffy nose, you fill up on all those veggies that don’t appeal to you…like brussel sprouts, maybe? Just a little food for thought! Haha!